Over-Soul
Over-Soul is a term used by Ralph Waldo Emerson in one of his best essays, first published in 1841. For him the term Over-Soul is a supreme underlying unity which transcends duality or plurality, much in the way non-dual philosophies describe reality. Mme. Blavatsky used this term as a synonym for anima mundi or ālaya, at a macrocosmic level, and for buddhi in human beings.
Emerson and the Over-Soul
Emerson's essay deals with the existence and nature of the human soul; its relationship with the personal ego; the relationship between the seemingly different human souls; and the relationship of the soul to God.
In this essay he says:
The Supreme Critic on the errors of the past and the present, and the only prophet of that which must be, is that great nature in which we rest, as the earth lies in the soft arms of the atmosphere; that Unity, that Over-soul, within which every man's particular being is contained and made one with all other; that common heart.[1]
Emerson's view was influenced by Eastern religions. There is evidence that he read The Bhagavad Gita and the Vedas. The essay also develops ideas present in the works of Plato, Plotinus, and Emmanuel Swedenborg.
Over-Soul in Theosophy
H. P. Blavatsky had Emerson's essay in high regard. She talks of it as "his superb Essay on The Over-Soul",[2] and used this term in her writings.
In the Theosophical view the Over-Soul is not regarded as the highest principle in the cosmos. This is the Absolute or Universal Spirit, the seventh Principle, the root of everything. The Over-Soul is regarded as "an aspect of the Unknown Root".[3] This should not be interpreted as meaning the Over-Soul is different from the Universal Spirit. As Mme. Blavatsky wrote:
For us there is no over-soul or under-soul; but only ONE—substance: the last word being used in the sense Spinoza attached to it; calling it the ONE Existence, we cannot limit its significance and dwarf it to the qualification “over”; but we apply it to the universal, ubiquitous Presence, rejecting the word ‘Being,’ and replacing it with “All-Being.”[4]
The Over-Soul is regarded to be the sixth Principle in the cosmos, ālaya, the universal soul. It is a collective indivisible Soul of which all individual souls are rays or sparks.
It is present in human beings as buddhi, which serves as the vehicle of atman:
As a general law, the Highest God, the Over-soul of the human being (Atma-Buddhi), only over-shadows the individual during his life, for purposes of instruction and revelation; or as Roman Catholics–who erroneously call that Over-soul the “Guardian Angel”–would say, “It stands outside and watches.”[5]
Mme. Blavatsky says that by means of Raja Yoga the "human soul" or manas can be united to the Over-Soul, forming what is called "Buddhi-Manas".[6]
Notes
- ↑ Ralph Waldo Emerson, The Over-soul, from Essays: First and Second Series, ([New York]: A.L. Burt Co., [1922?]), 190-213.
- ↑ Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Collected Writings vol. II (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, ???), 96.
- ↑ Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, The Secret Doctrine vol. I, (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 17.
- ↑ Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Collected Writings vol. X (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1989), 10, fn.
- ↑ Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Collected Writings vol. XIV (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1988), 48.
- ↑ Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, The Theosophical Glossary (Krotona, CA: Theosophical Publishing House, 1973), 257.
Further reading
- The Over-Soul at American Transcendentalism Web